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that the union is not likely to be fruitful, the Corsicans conduct themselves in a totally different manner. Instead of approaching the bridegroom's house with instruments of music, they come then with spades, horns, discordant bells, and make a frightful "charivari." Thus denoting their disapprobation of a marriage which cannot fulfil one of the chief ends for which it was destined.

The bridegroom so circumstanced bears this affront with good grace, since the custom is very ancient.

The Corsican wife is little more than the slave and drudge of her haughty master. He rides on his mule, whilst she paces along at his side. To the cultivation of the plot of ground that surrounds his hut the wife has to attend, whilst he smokes his pipe beneath the shady chesnut, or roams about the mountains with his gun and dog. But with this dreadful disparity of condition between the husband and wife, the latter is seldom cruelly treated, and infidelity the marriage contract is very rare. Children do not meet with equal attention from their parents; the sons engrossing nearly all the little property possessed by the family, whilst a daughter has nothing to look forward to in leaving the home of her father, but to become the slave of her husband.

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It is not uncommon to see two families dining at the same table, and warming themselves at the same fire.

Cousins are frequently brought up together, loving each other with the affection of brothers and sisters; and the grandfather, the chief of the whole family, is sometimes seen surrounded by twenty or thirty descendants, possessing,

with the necessaries of life, that love towards each other, which springs from a similarity of habits, and from a community of interest.

The education of their children, is as rude as their mode of life. A few maxims are all the parents inculcate into their offspring; they instruct them to believe in God and their religion, but omit the Christian precept of the forgiveness of injuries; on the contrary, they teach them to revenge insults. The sons no sooner arrive at the age of puberty, than their parents buy them arms, or lend them their own; telling them that being men and strong as other men, they ought to see their rights respected. These words, engraven on the heart of the young Corsican, are always recurring to his thoughts, and frequently lead to the most frightful consequences. What those rights are, does not depend with him upon any dry definitions, it is enough that he feels insulted; and thus in his own person he often unites the different characters of legislator, of judge, and of executioner.

One of the most imposing religious fêtes that take place in the island, occurs in Rogation week, when the vegetation is in its most vigorous state. At this time, the Corsicans go in procession from the parish church of their villages; whilst the smiling appearance of their country, the brilliancy of the sun, and the freshness of the atmosphere invite them to sing the praises of the Author of all things. They march at a slow pace; the men separate from the women; the priest in the middle; the children follow behind the priesthood. When the procession is arrived at a point of land which commands the prospect below, the

Curé gives his benediction to the country around, prays the Almighty to chain the tempests and torrents, the winds and all other natural causes inimical to the fruits of the earth, intended for man's subsistence. The congregation, on their knees, listen with profound attention. As soon as the prayers are finished, the procession returns in the same order to the parish church, where the people obtain bundles of little wooden crosses, which they fix separately on their lands.

The fête-days, in honour of the patron saint of each village, are

consecrated to prayer, and the effusion of the tenderest feelings. On these days, relatives generally assemble together; and this union of the different members of a family is considered as a sacred obligation imposed on all. A refusal to attend on such occasions is considered as a denial of their family; and produces much injury to a man's reputation. At these festive meetings, the Corsicans arrange, in general, the marriage of their daughters, and other family matters; and talk over the politics of the island, or of the village in which they are assembled.

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NATURAL HISTORY.

HE Living Skeleton, The following is an account of this strange lusus naturæ, who has been lately imported for the gratification of the curiosity of the London public.

The name of the Living Skeleton is Claude Ambroise Seurat; he is a native of Troyes, in Champagne, was born on the 10th of April, 1798, and is consequently 27 years of age. The result of an inquiry as to whether any object had presented itself during his mother's pregnancy, to create a fright, was, an assurance to the contrary. The mother was very short-sighted.

The child, on coming into the world, presented the customary baby form, its features being handsome; but in proportion as the infant grew, the frame gradually

wasted away, and so continued to decrease until the attainment of its full stature, which occurred at the usual term of life. At that period Claude Ambroise Seurat had attained his present height of five feet seven inches and a half, when his frame had dwindled to the livingskeleton form it now personifies. Having been shaved for the purpose of displaying the formation of the skull, in order to prevent the effect of cold, he wears a wig the colour of his eye-brows, which are a dark chesnut brown. The pupils of his eyes are large, full, and penetrating; the whites very clear, and his sight strong; but the upper lids

appear rather to weigh downwards, from a laxity of the muscles, added to which there is a glaziness in the sight, that conveys a some

thing of ghastliness to the general appearance. His teeth are perfect; his power of mastication very good, there is no defect in the strength of the jaws. His right shoulder inclines very much downwards, while the left rises in proportion. The upper joints of the arms present nothing but bones covered with the skin, their circumference measuring just four inches; while the fore arms, on the contrary, are five inches and a half. The hands are particularly long, and the nails beautifully formed; but the fingers are contracted upwards. The muscles of the arms are, however, wasted away or contracted, so that our subject does not possess the power of elevating the hands higher than in a semi-horizontal position, and when in that attitude nothing can possibly exceed the sepulchral appearance of this living anatomy. Perhaps one of the most wonderful circumstances attending the living skeleton is, that if measured externally from the chest to the back bone, the distance is under three inches.

Taken round the waist at the bottom of the ribs, the body measures barely one foot eleven inches, and when the object throws its arms backwards, the shoulderblade-bones are scarcely one inch asunder. From the vertebræ of the back, taken between the shoulders to the centre of the loirs, the falling-in is not less than five inches.

The thighs are much smaller than the legs, and, like the upper joints of the arms, merely covered with skin; the knees of a reddish colour, protrude in the front and sides, forming as it were a bowl at the bottom of the thigh-bones. The legs, of which the right is the largest, merely show signs of calves,

particularly the latter; and the main arteries of the exterior of the thighs and legs are large and full, which were, no doubt, augmented by the excessive heat of the weather.

When in France he ate very little if any animal food, a penny French-roll was enough for a day's sustenance; but as he now partakes of animal diet in very small quantities, his portion of bread is reduced accordingly.

His digestion is extremely good, and the evacuations of nature regularly performed-his sleep is uninterrupted, except at certain periods, when he has violent attacks of the night-mare; to dispel which his father, who always sleeps with him, and carefully watches his motions, on perceiving their approach, merely touches him with the hand, when the whole subsides. His voice is by no means strong, but far from disagreeable: he has a particular passion for music, and even can sing in a faint tone: but conversation must not be kept up for any length of time, as complete exhaustion would be the consequence. When speaking, the rotatory motion through the skin of the neck is perceptible, and the pulsation of the heart conspicuous to the eye.

In raising either of his feet from the floor, the limb appears to be distended uselessly from the knee, and we cannot better illustrate this idea than by that sensation we commonly experience upon allowing a limb to remain too long in one position, thereby causing a temporary strangulation of the vessels, known by the common term of the foot being asleep.

Previous to the arrival of this extraordinary creature in England, the French physicians who had in

spected him gave it as their opinion, that his lungs were placed in a different position to that usually occupied in the human frame. Since his arrival, sir Astley Cooper, by whom he has been visited, finds that his heart is placed so much out of the common region allotted to it, that it is precisely its own length lower than if properly placed.

The health of this singular being has been uninterruptedly good, except about five years ago, when he had a liver complaint, which subjected him to the application of numerous leeches, the traces of which are still visible on his skin. His respiration is confined, being the necessary result of a contraction of the lungs; yet, upon the whole, he does not appear to be much inconvenienced on that account, in consequence of the little exercise he takes and the consequent quiescent state of the animal system.

In regard to the texture of the skin of this living wonder, it is of a dry, moistless, parchment-like appearance, which, covering any other human form, would not answer the purposes of its functions, but seems calculated alone to cover the slender juiceless body of the being whom nature intended to array. On the shins nodes appear in the form of buttons, though not obtrusively to the eye, and the toes of the feet are bent over one another.

The ribs are not only capable of being distinguished, but may be clearly separated, and counted one by one, and handled like so many pieces of cane, and, together with the skin which covers them, resemble more the hoops and outer covering of a balloon of a small size, than any thing in the ordinary course of VOL. LXVII.

nature. We come now to the action produced by the efforts of the lungs, and which, strange as it may appear, does not proceed from the chest as in ordinary cases, but from the lower extremity of the abdomen, as though the organs of respiration, from excessive laxity, had absolutely descended from their proper sphere, and that, by a tenacious effort of nature, unwilling to yield possession of her functions, they had accommodated themselves by time to such an unnatural and incredible position.

The subject is presented to view in a state of nudity, save a mere covering of several inches deep round the loins, through which are cut large holes to admit of the hip-bones to pass, for the purpose of keeping it in its proper place. The poor fellow appears conscious of the only use that can now be derived from his crazy frame, and, as the last and only good he can bequeath to his more fortunate beholders, patiently submits to every proper examination, and readily answers any question at all calculated to elucidate his extraordinary state and existence.

History of a patient from whom three hundred and ninety-five needles were extracted.—The history of this case has been published by Dr. Otto, of Copenhagen.

Rachael Hertz, had, up to her 14th year, lived in the enjoyment of pretty good health; she was of a delicate constitution, active, and cheerful. On the 16th of August, 1807, she came under the care of professor Herholdt for a violent colic, which soon yielded to the employment of antiphlogistic medicines. She continued well up to the 24th of November of the same year, at which time she was seized with

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